Ace in the Hole
by teaandcharcoalforbreakfast
Summary: Tony keeps a lot of secrets, but the one he's kept the longest is that he's really not interested in sex. Unless, maybe, it's to make someone he loves happy. Pepperony. M for smut. Underage sex mentioned, but not graphic.


A/N:So it's my favorite headcanon that MCU Tony is actually asexual (I'm partially biased because I am myself and I still want to be Iron Man if I grow up). He just plays the part. That's why he doesn't seem too interested in women when he's not in his public persona, and also the reason that (according to RDJ anyway) that he and Pepper still haven't done it. So I wrote a fic about it.

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Tony has a lot of secrets when he really thinks about it: his arc reactor, JARVIS, his paralyzing fear of being submerged in water, the list goes on and on. But those are all recent. He'd gotten used to playing the game by then, and it was easy to hide himself behind a playboy persona. It wasn't that way when he first started. Because, let's be honest here, his supposed playboy nature was the biggest lie he ever told.

It was simple to notice, really, even if you weren't a genius: men were supposed to have sex. They were supposed to have lots, and lots, and lots of sex. And Tony, well Tony never cared about sex. At first he assumed that it would come when he was older, that he'd just started too young.

He'd stayed a virgin for the first semester at MIT. He tried to be suave and cool, to attract people like Dad did. He just didn't. They all called him a kid, a trust fund baby. The few that really did hang out with him did so partially out of pity and more for his money than anything else. He had to change that. The easiest way was clearly to go to parties. He'd already gotten drunk a few times on his father's scotch, but soon he was drinking the biggest frat boys under the table.

But that still wasn't enough. Everyone still treated him like a kid, so he had to do the only more adult thing he could think of. He had to fuck someone. Now, he didn't want to look too pathetic the first time he did it with someone who knew what they were doing, so he found someone else inexperienced first. She was sixteen and had never had a boyfriend. She was horny and lonely and kept looking at him from across the table in their physics lab because all the boys were too worried about being caught with jailbait. Tony didn't have to worry about that.

It was messy and awkward and not a lot of fun. His eyes were on the prize: acceptance, popularity, being taken seriously by his peers. But he learned as quickly in sex as he did in all other things. Within a month when he went to parties he'd start taking women upstairs and always get them off quickly and explosively.

From there the reputation spread like wildfire. His fingers were as gifted with female flesh as they were with circuits and metal, his tongue every bit as dexterous on a clit as in interviews. His cock wasn't really anything to brag about until he was about sixteen, but he didn't need that when he was famous for giving head. And people were genuinely impressed. Now sometimes when he smiled in social situations, it was from real pride. He had a skill that people cared much more about than his intelligence. Women wanted to be with him, men wanted to be him.

Now if only he could bring himself to care.

For a long time he assumed everyone was just faking the interest like he was. Well, everyone smart anyway. There were probably people out there who only cared about food and sex, but they weren't the kind of people who he would enjoy interacting with. They'd be the cute faces at parties, the journalists and lawyers who only got their by fucking big sweaty men with deep pockets, that sort of thing.

Then eventually he realized it wasn't the case. That people of all intellects really were that interested. So he was just weird. There was something else now to separate him from everyone else, to reinforce his label of poor little rich boy who prefers machines to people.

It wasn't until 2002 that he first heard the term asexuality in a non-biological sense. It was a curious idea to him: that there were some people who just didn't care about having sex. It wasn't that they were incapable of it. It wasn't always that they didn't feel love. They just didn't feel the need to rub their genitals against anyone else's. He felt relief beyond words. There were people like him. For once he wasn't the only one.

But he had to maintain his reputation. The first question out of any man's mouth was always about a woman. It was never about his technological pioneering. He'd invented artificial intelligence, completely modernized warfare, and made great strides in almost every other field of technology, but none of that mattered. It was still always "Did you really get Ms. Universe to have a three way with her runner up?"

It was a simple relationship: the more women he took to bed the more respect he got. It didn't matter that he had to appear to be a conceited jackass in public to hide his weakness from his enemies. It didn't matter that inside he was still just a nerd who always wanted to come up with a new, cooler machine. None of those flaws meant anything as long as his penis worked and worked well. The system was functional, but he hated it. He wished that it wasn't so deeply engrained in American culture that men couldn't be celibate, but that was one thing he couldn't go in and reprogram and he'd just have to live with that.

In a way, hooking up with Pepper was a relief. He'd never explicitly told her, but she seemed to know. It was obvious enough when he would always leave his one night stands. No one ever got morning nookie from Mr. Stark. He'd always be in his lab, punk or rock music blaring and elbows deep in his current project.

Still, he wanted to be open. One night when they were cuddling on the couch she'd placed a hand on his knee and was leaning against him.

"Pepper," He said softly, running his fingers through her hair, "I've got something to tell you."

She looked at him condescendingly and raised one eyebrow, "You've finally managed to get something done without telling me?"

"No, Pep, you know I'm useless."

"Go on."

"Well I-" As always when he was trying to be serious, his words started to slip away. His vocabulary disappearing completely as he looked into her eyes. "I don't want to have sex. I never do. But I really want this to work, and-"

She placed a finger on his lips. "Don't worry about it. I've spent more years than I'd like to count taking care of myself, and I've sort of gotten used to it. I'd rather have you."

Tony smiled and she pulled her finger away.

"Oh, Pep, I am going to buy you the best toys money can buy. Actually, scratch that, do we have a subsidiary that makes sex toys? If not, why not? Let's start one, Ms. CEO. We'll have them make you anything you want. Any size, and color, any material, any rpm-"

She just smiled and shook her head, "Tony, you're crazy."

"Oh, I know."

"I'm alright for now, but anytime you feel like buying me something... Well, just ask first, I probably won't say no."

For a long time, that was good enough. But he always felt sort of guilty. He was her boyfriend, he was supposed to be taking care of her. It wasn't that he was worried about her staying true to her. He just wanted her to be happy. Maybe, just maybe, that would be enough to get him to enjoy it. Maybe seeing her, the person who mattered to him more than anyone in the world, in absolute bliss would be enough, even if it was the carnal route that got her there.

Then one night he decided that it would be worth it to try. He told Jarvis to alert him if Pepper got out her toys. He stayed in the lab not really concentrating on his work. His hands were busy, but mostly he was just waiting. Then, after what felt like an eternity, Jarvis finally spoke up.

"Sir, Ms. Potts has not yet retrieved anything, but she has begun to watch pornographic videos."

"Thanks, J."

He headed to their room as quickly as he could and slowly opened the door. Pepper froze with a guilty look on her face, one hand holding up her skirt while the other slid beneath her panties.

"Tony-!"

He just smiled, making it clear to her that it was alright and slid over to the bed. He sat beside her and began tracing her perfectly smooth legs. "I thought I'd come keep you company. Turn off the screen J, but bring the lights up a little bit."

The AI simply obeyed.

"I thought you weren't interested in this." Pepper said, looking an interesting combination of embarrassed and aroused.

"I'm not." He crawled over her and gave her a kiss on the lips, "What I'm interested in is taking care of you. Think about it like when you make me those blueberry pancakes and give me backrubs. Both of those are orgasmic, so I figure I owe you a few."

"Tony... You're making this feel awfully sudden."

"Well you know me." He bent down to nibble her ear slightly, which he knew she liked. "Now what do you want?"

"I-I'm not sure if you noticed what was on the screen, what I've been watching."

"Tell me," He made his voice low and seductive and for the first time truly reveled in the shudder it caused.

"You. Your old sex tapes. My God, Tony, you were making them come harder than I've seen in my life."

"And you want that." He said softly.

"Yes." Her voice was breathy and light. She was half way there already.

"Alright, then, one Stark Special."

She laughed, "Tony, we had a mood for a moment there."

He grinned back, "Aw, Pep, you know me. Now let's get these out of the way."

He carefully slipped her panties down and threw them to the side as she fiddled with her top. He unzipped her skirt before reaching behind her and deftly unhooking her bra. That too went flying and he had a naked Pepper Potts beneath him. He had seen plenty of naked women in his time, but to him her body was the most beautiful by far. He gently kissed her collarbone as he stroked her upper thighs. As she naturally parted her legs, he eased his hands higher and his lips lower until he was stroking her labia and nibbling her breasts.

"Please." She said.

He carefully spread her outer lips, his fingers sliding between them deftly. His pointer finger went straight for her clit while two others ran along her entrance without penetrating. From that position he could play a woman like a piano: one touch here and another there to make her let out whatever noises he wanted. Normally that was how he judged what his plan would be: what he would have to do to a woman to get her off quickly so that she would fall asleep and he could leave to pass out on the couch.

Now, he closed his eyes and let the noises wash over him, allowing his muscle memory to take over because for once he would rather focus on something other than making his technique perfectly. Every breathy moan and gasp a sign that he was doing a good job, that Pepper was enjoying it. He got so distracted by the fact that he was actually enjoying his gift that he messed up and let her come.

"So tell me, Pep," he whispered in her ear, "How many do you usually rock out before you call it a night?"

"What?"

"Oh, you've never had multiples? You poor woman. Here, let me show you."

He was glad that his face was sliding down her body then because he must have looked like an excited school kid showing his parents what he'd learned that day. He breathed heavily between her legs, just a small reminder that he was there while he allowed her to regain her composure. Then again he went to work. He hated the taste of vag, but he loved the way Pepper grabbed his hair and pushed against him when his tongue traced her clit. She was so responsive and for once he wasn't worried she was faking it. He gave her a second orgasm easily and then looked up.

"More?" He asked.

She breathed deeply. "Your cock," she said.

He shook his head. "Some day, but I- It's probably weird, but it just wouldn't feel right. I'm not taking from you, I'm trying to give you something. Does that make sense?"

"Not really, but I- We can talk later."

"Good. Now. Where's your favorite toy?"

"Bedside table, the red one."

He reached over and found it: a nice, if slightly plain, vibrator. "Now, baby, I'm gonna fuck you with this. However you want to make you feel the best you've ever felt." He whispered, stroking her sweat-soaked brow.

She nodded eagerly and he held her open with one hand while the other gently slid the toy in place.

"Start low." She instructed.

He turned it on and began a slow but steady pace. He'd found her g-spot with both his fingers and tongue, so it was simple enough to find it again with the toy. He flipped the two of them so that she was on top, rocking into the toy and mewling plaintively. He watched as she slowly came apart in his arms and thought that he'd never seen anything half as cute. She actually managed to come twice more before she told him to turn it off. He pulled it away and held her as she came down, gently stroking her sides and kissing her face.

"Thank you," She said eventually, caressing the side of his face.

"You're welcome." He replied, standing.

"You're not going to leave me like one of your other girls, are you?"

For an answer he just smiled and pulled out a set of pajamas. He changed and slid in bed next to her, spooning her gently. She seemed so tiny like that. A tiny little kitten all tired out from a hard day of playing.

"I love you so much," He whispered, "Next time you want a hand..."

"Do I get another Stark Special?" She teased.

"Whatever you want, as long as I can hold you like this afterwards."

"Thanks. I-I really liked that Tony." He smiled into her neck, trying not to make it obvious how pleased he was for once with the praise.

"You know what? I did too. I really did too."


End file.
